Landscape with Forest, Fields, and Mountains (from Sketchbook X)
Medium
Graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
5 x 7 1/2 in. (12.7 x 19.1 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Gifts in memory of Stephen D. Rubin, 1992
Accession Number
1992.2.2p
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Trost Richards, a 19th-century American artist captures the sublime beauty of the American wilderness in *Landscape with Forest, Fields and Mountains* (from Sketchbook X), dated 1885. This graphite sketch on off-white wove paper just 5 x 7 1/2 inches, revealing Richards' keen eye for natural detail during his travels sketching en plein air. As part of the Hudson River School's legacy, Richards emphasized precise observation of nature, blending Romantic grandeur with scientific accuracy influenced by John Ruskin. The work showcases layered forests, rolling fields, and distant mountains...
About the Artist
William Trost Richards · 1833–1905
William Trost Richards (1833–1905) was a prominent American landscape and marine painter born in Philadelphia, where he attended Central High School before beginning his artistic training. Between 1850 and 1855, he studied part-time under the German-born Hudson River School artist Paul Weber while working as a designer and illustrator of ornamental metalwork. He exhibited his first works at the Pe...